


Shattered Again

by RachaelGold



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Adventure, Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-25
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2019-04-27 19:54:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14432919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RachaelGold/pseuds/RachaelGold
Summary: This is a substantial rewrite of the Season 7 episode Shattered and contains some of the original dialogue. In my version, Chakotay encounters a future version of Janeway, and is disturbed by what he discovers.Setting: Season 7 and other temporal  manifestations





	1. Chapter 1

Chakotay groaned, as he regained consciousness. He was lying on a bio-bed in Sick Bay, as the Doctor scanned him. He tried to sit up, but his body refused to obey him. His head ached, his legs were leaden and he felt faint with tiredness. 

"Welcome back. Please lie still." 

"What happened?" 

"You were transported here. Your body was in a state of temporal flux." 

"Temporal flux?" 

"You had the liver of and eighty-year old man, and the kidneys of a twelve year old boy. Fortunately, I was able to create a chroniton-infused serum that brought you back into temporal alignment. Anywhere else, that antidote would have earned me a prestigious award. Of course, on Voyager, it’s just another day in the life of an under-appreciated EMH." 

As Chakotay’s mind began to clear, he remembered that Voyager had been hit by something resembling a lightening bolt. He had been working on a console, and had borne the brunt of one particular spike of the energy discharge. He’d blacked out, and the next he knew he was in Sick Bay. 

"Any other casualties?" 

"None that I know. I’ve been calling the Bridge, but no-one answers." 

Chakotay made to get up. 

"What do you think you’re doing?" 

"Leaving. And you’re coming with me," he replied, grabbing a med-kit. 

"I am?" 

"There maybe other injured crewmen." 

"In case you’ve forgotten, I’m a prisoner of these walls." 

"Where’s your mobile emitter?" 

"My what?" Chakotay looked at the Doctor mystified. What was going on here? 

"You haven’t got a mobile emitter? You can’t leave this room?" 

"No." 

"I’ll be back," Chakotay said, turning to leave. This was very puzzling. He needed to find out what was happening. 

* * *

  


Chakotay headed for the Bridge, and barely noticed a ghostly shimmer descending through the turbo-lift as it sped upwards. However, he couldn’t fail to notice the changes on the Bridge. Lieutenant Durst was in Tuvok’s usual position, Harry Kim was at ops, but there was a tall grey-haired stranger in his seat, and an unknown woman in Tom’s usual place. As his mouth dropped open in astonishment, several of the party drew phasers and aimed them at him. 

"Bridge to security. Intruder alert!" barked Durst. The klaxons sounded and Chakotay immediately held up his hands in submission. 

"Mr. Durst, Mr. Kim..Harry, it’s me." Harry looked at Chakotay, uncertain and bewildered. 

"Do..do I know you?" 

"Please surrender your weapon," said Durst, extending his hand. 

Chakotay knew he was in no position to argue and reluctantly handed over his phaser. 

"Perhaps you’d better explain who you are, and what you are doing aboard our ship," supplied the older stranger. 

"I am Commander Chakotay, First Officer of the Starship Voyager." 

The stranger laughed. "Very funny. You’ll have to do better than that. I’m Lieutenant Commander Cavit, First Officer of the Starship Voyager. Now perhaps we should try that again. Who are you?" 

"I told you. My name is Chakotay," he returned, as the realisation that he had been thrown backwards in time came to him. "Look I know this is hard to believe, but the ship hit some sort of anomaly…" 

"Chakotay. It checks out. He is who he says he is," said Durst, as he studied a database. "Formerly Starfleet. Now on the highly wanted list. He’s a key player in the Maquis, Sir. Considered highly dangerous." 

"Is he now?" said Cavit, licking his lips in amused anticipation. "Well now, I think we’d better inform the Captain." 

"Unable to raise her, Sir," said Harry Kim. "In fact, we appear to be out of communications with the rest of the ship." 

Three paces took Cavit up to Chakotay, and he jammed his phaser forcefully into his throat. "I think you’d better tell me what’s going on here. How many of your people are on our ship?" 

"We’re not attacking your ship. I’ve already tried to tell you…the ship hit some sort of anomaly, and I’ve been thrown back in time…" 

"So you’re telling me you’re from the future?" 

"That’s right." 

"And you’re First Officer of this ship?" 

"Yes," he replied, trying hard to look sincere. 

"Bullshit. That’s the most ridiculous story. Not very intelligent, are you? Starfleet would never consider you worthy of scrubbing the exhaust manifolds of this magnificent vessel, let alone make you an officer! What kind of an idiot would swallow a story like that? Now, I repeat, why are you here and who is with you?" 

"I told you," replied the strangled voice. "I’m from the future." 

"I recommend removing him from the Bridge for further questioning, Sir," said Durst. 

"Where’s that security team?" barked Cavit. 

"Still no response," said Kim. 

"Andrews, Rollins. Take this man to the Brig. Watch him like a hawk." The two officers came, brandishing their phasers, and pushed Chakotay towards the turbo-lift. Behind him he heard Cavit continue, "Moorcroft, go find the Captain. And find out what’s happening on the rest of this ship." 

The doors closed, and the turbo-lift descended. Chakotay stood between the two men, hands held aloft and two phasers pointed at his temple. He contemplated whether he had any chance of over-powering them, but decided it was too risky. But then their bodies dissolved in a shimmering light from the feet upwards, and Chakotay was left looking foolish and alone in the lift. He turned through 360 degrees, trying to figure out where the men had gone, before finally sheepishly lowering his hands. The doors slid open. He shook himself and exited the lift. 

What was going on? Now he was free to think clearly, he realised that the Doctor and the Bridge were not in the same time frame. The ship was in some kind of temporal flux. But just how bad was it? And was he the only person aware of it? He needed to enlist help, from at least the Captain. But where was she and would she believe who he was? It had been a close call on the Bridge. 

He met nobody walking along the corridors, as he headed for Engineering. He was more shocked at what he found there than he had been on the Bridge. The doors opened on a scene of chaos. The place was crawling with Kazon. 

"Seska!" he said, looking at the woman he believed dead, just as a blow from a Kazon weapon knocked him unconscious. 

* * *

  


From the ladder, Chakotay leaped to the upper level of Engineering. He’d regained consciousness and argued unproductively with Seska, until a momentary diversion had distracted his captors and allowed him to run. They’d have got him again, if there hadn’t been a temporal barrier between the two levels. Looking down, he realised that the Kazon could no longer see him. Neither did they appear able to cross the barrier. Another close call. He’d been lucky. He’d need to proceed with more caution and he definitely needed help. Back to Sick Bay. 

"Commander, please tell me what is going on." 

"If you tell me the stardate." 

"49624." 

"No wonder you didn’t know about the mobile emitter. You don’t get it for another year." 

"I don’t understand." 

"I’m not sure I get it myself. The ship has been fractured somehow." 

"Fractured?" 

"Into different time zones. On the Bridge it’s before Voyager left the Alpha Quadrant. In Engineering, it’s when the Kazon took over the ship." 

"Kazon!" said the Doctor in alarm. 

"Don’t worry. So far I’m the only one who seems to be able to cross between the time zones. That serum you gave me must have made me immune. Can you replicate me another hypospray? I need to find the Captain and enlist her help. Any idea where she might be?" The pained expression of irritation on the Doctor’s face suggested a sarcastic retort was coming. 

* * *

  


Awhile later, Chakotay left Sick Bay, armed with the hypospray. He wondered where he would find Kathryn. He tried her quarters, but they were empty. His quarters were also empty, but had his own things in them. At least, he thought with relief, some of the time-frames have me firmly rooted as First Officer. Astrometrics was occupied by an adult Naomi Wildman and Icheb, seventeen years into the future. They were as much surprised to see him as he was to see them, but they were able to supply information about the time zones. There were thirty-seven of them in total, but they had no knowledge of the whereabouts of any crewmembers. He left and headed for the Mess Hall. What greeted him there surprised him the most of all. 

The doors opened on some kind of party. The place was teeming with glittering people, dressed for an important occasion and sipping champagne. At first, they appeared to be complete strangers, until he caught a glimpse of Tuvok in his best tunic. A Vulcan woman appeared to be with him, and it dawned on him that this must be Tuvok’s wife, T’Pel. An old man in a Starfleet Admiral’s uniform seemed to be droning on with some sort of speech. At the counter, Neelix was serving meals, but no-one seemed to be at all interested in them. As he approached, Neelix strangely offered him a sample of everything. 

"No thanks. Not hungry. Neelix, what’s going on?" 

"Why, we’re having a party, of course." 

"What’s the occasion?" 

"Well…I couldn’t say. We celebrated lots of things on Voyager. Prixin. Christmas. Ancestors’ Eve….Do try some leola root. It was the crew’s favourite…a Delta Quadrant speciality." 

This was a rather strange response, so Chakotay asked, "Do you know who I am?" 

"No, I can’t say I do. I am not programmed to recognise people. Let me introduce myself. I’m Neelix. I’m from Talax." 

"You’re a hologram!" 

"Yes, yes. That’s what I am. A hologram. But I can show you all the meals I cooked. And tell you a lot of the stories too. Some very interesting things happened in the Mess Hall! Do you know I was made Ambassador…" 

"Another time, perhaps," said Chakotay pulling away, and scanning the crowd for anyone familiar. He saw Tom, looking splendid in his tuxedo, but no sign of B’Elanna. Then, there it was. A flash of reddish hair caught his eye. Was it Kathryn? He pushed through the crowd towards her. Her hair was different…longer, and pinned up at the back with a jewelled clip. Then he heard her rich throaty laugh, and he knew he had found her. She had on a coppery pink cocktail dress, covered in sparkles. The back was incredibly low, and he had a delicious view of a large expanse of the Janeway back. The slinky material of the dress clung closely to her body, showing off her curves delightfully. Chakotay sucked in his breath. Spirits, he’d never seen her wear anything remotely that sexy before. 

"Kathryn," he called softly. He had to repeat it before she turned and looked at him rather curiously with perhaps a hint of annoyance. He reached out and touched her arm gently. "Can I speak to you? In private?" She hesitated momentarily, before following him to a quiet spot outside the Mess Hall doors. 

"This had better be good," she said in an irritated tone. "What’s happened to your tux? And did you just get a haircut? Really, Chakotay, this is taking the spirit of the occasion too far." He stared at her in admiration, his eyes sweeping from her head to the floor. She was looking stunning. 

"You look amazing!" 

She huffed. "I’d appreciate it, if you didn’t spend the evening staring down the front of my dress. Now, please, say your piece quickly, and then we can both get back to the party." 

"Sorry," he said, embarrassed. "I need your help…the ship needs your help." 

"Well, I’m listening," she said impatiently. 

"Kathryn, what year is it?" 

"Year? 2379…oh!" she gasped, lifting a hand to her temple and rubbing it. "Please tell me it’s not another temporal infraction." 

"I’m afraid so. For me it’s 2377. The ship has been fractured into a number of different time zones. Thirty-seven to be precise. The Engineering section is occupied by the Kazon…Seska’s in control down there. The Bridge is under Cavit’s command. He’s sent someone to look for you, but anyone attempting to cross the barriers simply disappears. So far, I’m the only one who appears to be able to travel between the time zones. The Doc injected me with a serum, which has allowed me to pass through. Kathryn, I need your help to return the ship to the normal space-time continuum. If we don’t, the ship will stay stuck like this indefinitely. All these people will never be able to leave. Who are they all, anyway?" 

"Just a load of Starfleet and Federation dignitaries. Some of the old crew…" 

"We got home?" he asked in wonder. 

She relaxed and smiled. "We got home." 

"When?" 

"About eighteen months ago. They’re turning Voyager into a museum." 

"Is that what the occasion is?" Kathryn merely nodded. "How?" 

"How what?" 

"Did we get home?" 

"Now, I can’t tell you that. Temporal prime directive." She paused a moment, and then added, "This is about the day you burnt out the deflector dish, isn’t it?" 

"Perhaps. That may have to be part of the solution," he said, relieved that she was catching on quickly. "Do you know how we solved the problem?" 

"No, you didn’t explain what had happened." 

"Temporal prime directive," they both said in unison, then smiled easily at each other. 

"But we did solve it," she finished. 

"Well, I think I’d better take you for a recce. If I just inject you with this serum, you should be able to…" he said lifting the article to her neck. 

"Whoa…you’re not injecting me with anything!" she exclaimed, stepping backwards. "Not until I know it’s safe." 

"Don’t you trust me?" 

"Chakotay, I’m three months pregnant." His mouth dropped open in amazement, and then broke into a huge grin. His gaze fell again, searching for any outward sign. 

"That’s wonderful!" he choked, reaching forward in awe, and delicately resting his fingers on her belly. She flinched. Lifting his eyes again, he saw a look of horror in her eyes. He realised that he had totally misjudged the situation, and drew his hand back. A lump came to his throat. 

"It’s not mine, is it?" With tears pooling in her eyes, she gave a slight shake of the head. Her left hand came up to brush his hand away, and it was then that he first noticed the rings on her finger. "You married?" 

"Yes." 

"Whom?" 

"Somebody you haven’t met yet. He’s an Ambassador for the Federation. He’s a good man, Chakotay." 

Chakotay turned away for a few moments. He was having considerable difficulty in maintaining his composure, whilst absorbing this new information. He had spent six and half years loving this woman, hoping against hope that they would get home and find the freedom to pursue their relationship. Suddenly, all his dreams for a future with Kathryn were shattered. 

Misty eyed, he looked again at the object of his affection. 

"Kathryn, what happened to…us?" 

"There is no us. Not any more." 

"Tell me, Kathryn." 

"You know I can’t." 

"Spirits, I died, didn’t I?" 

"No," she said hastily, "I assure you, you didn’t. You walked out of here twenty minutes ago, perfectly fit and healthy." 

"So why didn’t you marry me?" 

"You never asked me." 

"I never asked you? Spirits, Kathryn, I’ve been rehearsing the words for years. Waiting for when we got home. I can’t believe I never said them." 

"Oh, you said them all right. To somebody else." 

"I married somebody else. Whom?" 

"You know I can’t tell you." 

"I just can’t believe this. We had an understanding." 

"We did. But you broke it." 

"Kathryn?" 

"We got home," she said miserably, "but you weren’t beside me as you had promised." 

"Oh, God. It was someone on the ship then." 

"Yes." 

"I can’t believe this." 

"Chakotay, you’re repeating yourself." 

"Are we still friends?" The sad look in her eyes told him the truth. 

"Hardly. I’ve spent the last eighteen months avoiding you." 

The bile rose to his throat, and he leant against the bulkhead for support. "I really hurt you, didn’t I?" 

A long silence followed, as Kathryn struggled with the decision to answer him. Eventually she sighed and said softly, "Yes…… Chakotay, I think we should get on with the business in hand. I need confirmation that the serum is safe in my condition, and there are no medical personnel in the room." He nodded. "Will we need to take Tuvok and Tom?" 

"We may eventually." 

"I have no need to explain to you that it is best to restrict access to a temporal field of operations to the most senior staff. And as few of them as possible. With that in mind, maybe we should take Admiral Paris over there. He’s still technically my superior and we’re the only two people in the room with level 10 security clearance." 

"That old man? That’s Tom’s dad?" 

"Yes." 

"He doesn’t look up to crawling around Jefferies tubes." 

"No. You’re probably right. But neither am I." 

"We need your brain though. Look, I’ll go ask the Doctor about this serum. I’ve seen him. He’s in Sick Bay…minus his mobile emitter." 

"Okay. Tell him _Janeway gamma fifteen alpha_. He’ll know what that means. I’ll feed everyone here some sort of line about what’s going on." 

"Kathryn, don’t you trust me?" 

"Yes, Chakotay. I think you’re telling the truth. But, no offence, I need to double check this. You could be an alien masquerading as Chakotay. After all, I saw you with long hair wearing formal evening dress only minutes ago." 

* * *

  


Chakotay’s body trudged its way back down to Sick Bay on autopilot. He’d no idea how he got there, and had no recollection of the journey. His mind was completely absorbed by what he had just witnessed. He was totally stunned and sickened at this glimpse of the future, and he was struggling to keep himself together. How could his future self have let Kathryn slip away from him? There would never be anyone to rival her, and he couldn’t think of anyone else on the crew he could possibly desire a relationship with. 

He obtained the necessary information from the Doctor, and mechanically made his way back up to the Mess Hall, his thoughts still racing away. He knew that at times he felt lonely, and often despaired of ever having the relationship with Kathryn they both longed for. There were times when Kathryn would encourage him to seek happiness elsewhere, if the right opportunity presented itself. She was far too generous and unselfish to hold him back. But he knew too that deep down she hoped for the same thing he did, and that she was much more optimistic about getting home than he was. Home? What was home for him? Home was here on the ship, next to the woman he loved. There was only one reason he could possibly want to get home. How had he let go of that dream? 

He was rudely jolted back to reality by a loud buzzing noise, alerting him to the presence of something sinister behind him. Half turning, he caught sight of a macro-virus launching itself at him. He threw himself forwards, and safely into the next time zone, just as the creature closed up on him and vanished on impact with the barrier. 

Cursing, Chakotay told himself he was stupid. He’d almost got himself killed. At the moment he was the only one with any hope of salvaging this situation. He had to concentrate on the task in hand. 

He returned to the Mess Hall without further incident, and was immediately accosted by a total stranger. The stranger, however, appeared to know him. 

"Mr. Chakotay, what have you been doing? Why are you wearing your old uniform? You’re not a hologram are you?" 

"No. I’m just getting into the spirit of the evening," he said, and then wondered if it might have been easier to pretend to be a hologram. He glanced around the room to see if he could see Kathryn anywhere, and then spotted her on the far side in deep conversation with Admiral Paris. 

"Have you been giving our off-world visitors the guided tour?" 

"Something like that," he said, trying to play along. 

"What have you done with your beautiful wife? She’s not gone to put on her Delta Quadrant clothes, has she? Now that really would be something to behold!" 

"I have no idea. I haven’t seen her for at least, um, forty minutes." 

"You should keep tabs on that one." 

"If you’ll excuse me, I need to talk to Captain Janeway urgently." 

"Captain? You’re forgetting, Mr. Chakotay. She’s an Admiral now." 

"So she is. I keep forgetting," he responded hastily, surprised but pleased at this latest piece of information. He pushed away quickly. 

He didn’t make it right across the room, because Tom grabbed him by the arm. 

"Chakotay?" asked Tom, eyes narrowing. "You just got yourself a haircut?" 

"I did." 

"And why have you got your old uniform out of mothballs?" 

"Er..I’m afraid I spilt red wine down my tux. I had to change and this seemed appropriate somehow. The hair just didn’t look right." 

"Between you and me, I miss that old uniform. The new one’s so itchy, we’ll probably scratch ourselves to death before the Borg get us." 

"I agree." 

"Speaking of the Borg, what have you done with Seven…I mean, Annika?" 

"I really don’t know. I haven’t seen her." 

"Probably snooping around her old haunts. I couldn’t keep B’Elanna here. She disappeared to look at her beloved engines an hour ago. Here, you don’t think they’re stuck somewhere? With these unexpected dignitaries touring the ship…" 

"What unexpected dignitaries?" 

"Chakotay, what planet have you been on? Apparently some unexpected off-worlders are touring the ship, and they’ve had to adjust the environmental controls. We’re not to leave the room without permission. So, go easy on the drink!" 

"I’m sure everything’s under control," Chakotay replied, knowing full well it wasn’t. 

"Yeah, I’m sure they’re fine. It’ll take more than a few environmental changes to faze B’Elanna or Annika. Wives, eh? They drive you mad, but you can’t live without them. Say, she’s not still in a huff with you about your going to see Kathryn the other day, is she?" 

"What???" 

"Annika. B’Elanna said that she…" 

"I married Seven?" Chakotay said in shock. 

"Chakotay? What the hell? How much champagne have you had?" 

"I can’t believe I married Seven!" 

"Yeah well, nobody else could believe it either!" 

At this point, Kathryn, alerted by the timbre of his voice, grabbed Chakotay’s arm and marched him away from Tom and out of the Mess Hall. 

"What do you think you’re doing?" she asked angrily. "You should keep your interaction with these people to a minimum. You know that." 

"I haven’t said anything." 

"Chakotay, it probably doesn’t matter what you’ve said. Most likely, we’ll have no recollection of your ever having been here when this is all sorted. However, it’s what you’re learning that concerns me. You’re from the time-frame of the original accident. You’ll probably be the only one to remember what has happened here." 

"Okay, I’ll be more careful. Just let’s get on with the job." 

"What did the Doc say?" 

"The serum’s perfectly safe. We just have to give it ten minutes to make sure it’s circulated to the baby as well." She said nothing, as if waiting for more. "Oh, and he said to tell you _EMH delta seventeen omicron_." 

"That’s good enough. Do it!" Chakotay released the hypospray in her neck, and she rubbed the spot thoughtfully for a few moments. 

"Kathryn, do you remember all those codes in your head?" 

"Of course." 

"Even eighteen months after the mission ended?" 

"I have an excellent memory." 

After a pause, he asked, "The cover is off-world dignitaries touring the ship?" 

"Yes. The environmental controls have had to be adjusted." 

"Good thinking." 

"Thanks. You and I have to show them round in a minute. Everybody has to stay in the room for a while. However, if anybody insists on leaving and they end up disappearing, Admiral Paris may have something of a panic on his hands. But it won’t be a disaster. Everything should eventually be restored to normal, assuming we succeed. Admiral Paris is fully aware of the situation, and we both agreed I should do this. He does not have first hand experience of the ship or its history. Tuvok and Tom will be drafted in, if and when it proves necessary. It is easier to take them back in time, than to move people forward. There is always much more to explain. Tom and Tuvok will remember the deflector dish incident." 

"You sound like the resident expert on time travel." 

"Let’s just say I’ve had more that my fair share of exposure. And it’s never a picnic." 

"Does Admiral Paris know you’re pregnant?" 

"Yes." 

"And he’s happy to let you do this?" 

"Yes. Chakotay, Starfleet Admirals don’t let a little thing like pregnancy stop them from doing their job." 

"I shouldn’t think there are many pregnant Starfleet Admirals." 

"No. I am something of a rarity." 

"Congratulations, by the way. On being made an Admiral. Well…and on the pregnancy." 

"Thank you." 

"I can’t believe you really think it’s a little thing." 

"Well no, I don’t," she smiled. "I’m thrilled. So, serious though this situation is, I intend to proceed with some caution." 

"Quite right." He wondered whether to bring the distressing subject of Seven up, but decided against it. 

"If you’ll excuse me a moment, I just need to talk to my…some people. I’ll be back shortly. Now stay out of trouble." 

She disappeared back inside, and he waited outside the doors. The next time they opened, he saw her taking leave of a tall handsome man. He was in his mid-forties, blond with a handsome chiselled face. He looked German or Scandinavian. As they parted, she patted him on the arm with easy familiarity, and he realised that this man was in all likelihood her husband. 

She came back through the doors. 

"Ready to go?" 

"Yes." 

"Your husband?" 

"Yes." 

"What’s his name?" 

"No questions, Chakotay," she said firmly, as they successfully passed through the first barrier. Kathryn paused, and looked back with some curiosity. The doors to the Mess Hall were still clearly visible. She looked down, and an anxious hand swept experimentally across her abdomen. 

"All right?" he asked gently. 

"Yes, I think so." 

"Where shall we start?" 

"We start by arming ourselves at the first available locker. Then we are going straight to my quarters. I am not suitably dressed for traipsing around and greeting the Kazon." Chakotay grinned, as he momentarily indulged in the fantasy of her taking the Kazon on in a shimmering cocktail dress and high heels. Then he agreed whole-heartedly. 

In her quarters, she marched into her bedroom. 

"Get me some coffee, will you? I think I need waking up a bit," she threw back at him. "I’m assuming the replicator’s working." 

"Still got your priorities right, then?" 

"Absolutely," came her distant voice from the bedroom. 

"Too much champagne?" 

"Probably." 

"Are you allowed it? In your present condition, I mean?" 

"In moderation. Everything in moderation." 

"What’s the plan? I think we should stick together." 

"Agreed. There’s no way of communicating between the different zones on the ship. And we need to watch each others’ backs." 

"We need to check the ship over, and make sure there are no more nasty surprises." 

"Fine. I think we should try and find Seven. No one knows more about temporal mechanics." 

"Agreed," said Chakotay, with something of a lump in his throat. "Where do you want your coffee?" 

"Bring it in here." He carried it through into the bedroom, where she was pulling on her boots. Her dress was sprawled out over the bed. He set down the cup of coffee on her dresser. He had a mug of tea in his other hand. He studied her. She looked glowing, and the diamond earrings and hairclip looked slightly incongruous with the uniform. She caught the direction of his eyes, and hastily removed the earrings, but left her hair alone. 

"Thanks," she said, gratefully lifting the mug. "I’m glad I can still get into this." 

"Fits perfectly. I hear there are new uniforms." 

"Yes. These were much more comfortable. I’m glad I wasn’t stuck for seven years wearing the new one." She took a tentative sip of the coffee. "Not exactly the Night Owl’s best, but it’ll do." They smiled at each other, relaxed as old friends should be. It was good to feel the earlier tension between them ebb away. 

"There’s something missing!" 

"Oh?" 

"Pips!"

She looked in a drawer. "Not here. I must be wearing them somewhere." 

He went to the replicator and ordered a new set. Standing close to her, his breath tickling her neck, he pinned them on for her. "Stand still!" he ordered, as she fidgeted. "I suppose this is something of a demotion." 

"A temporary one." Stepping back, she wiped the look of awkwardness from her face, and smoothed down the uniform. "It feels strange." 

"Well, I saw you looking just like that a couple of hours ago. Your hair was different, though. It’s longer again. I like it." 

"So is yours. Come on, Chakotay. We’ve got work to do. Where do you think Seven will be?" 

"She’s not in Astrometrics. I’ve already checked. Let’s try the Cargo Bay." 


	2. Chapter 2

It was a shock to find the Cargo Bay looking like the inside of a Borg cube. A number of drones were milling about. Seven was still easily recognisable, as she worked on a console, and it felt very strange, even somewhat chilling, to Chakotay to look on this fully Borg version of his future wife. 

Fortunately, she was in a fairly co-operative phase. Not only did she recognise both Janeway and Chakotay, she was also well aware of what was happening to the ship. 

She briefed them quickly on what she knew and then offered a solution. "When a Borg cube travels through a transwarp corridor, the temporal stresses are extreme. To keep different sections of the cube in temporal sync., we project a chroniton field throughout the vessel." 

"How?" asked Janeway. 

"Each cube has specially designed conduits. If we install similar conduits throughout this vessel, then generate a sufficiently powerful field, we may be able to force Voyager back into temporal sync.." 

Chakotay asked, "Temporal sync. with what?" 

"The vessel will return to the moment of the original chrono-kinetic surge. Since the surge will last four to six seconds, Commander Chakotay will have a short time to counteract the warp core reaction." 

Janeway exclaimed, "The bio-neural circuitry! It runs through the ship like a nervous system. If we inject the gel packs with the serum, we could use them to transmit the chroniton field." 

"The warp core could be recalibrated to generate that field," supplied Seven. 

"Work on it, Seven. Chakotay and I will see about modifying that serum." 

"Your plan is inefficient." 

Janeway rolled her eyes at the Borgish tone. "Seven?" 

"There are only two of you. If I were to assimilate you into a Borg collective, we could proceed more rapidly." 

"Sorry," Janeway threw back at her, as she started for the door. "I like my plan better." 

Once outside, she added to Chakatoy, "God, I’d forgotten how challenging it was to work with her in the early days." 

"I remember. I was dead opposed to your taking her with us." 

Kathryn smiled. "But I was right. She’s changed unbelievably over the years. Even then you could see the potential." 

"Changed so much in fact that I eventually marry her?" 

"Chakotay, I told you not to ask too many questions." 

"What happened between us, Kathryn?" 

"Enough!" 

"Did we have a big bust up or something?" 

"No. Not really. Well, we sometimes argued. But that was normal for us." 

"So why would I turn to Seven?" 

Kathryn stopped and faced him angrily in the corridor. "Chakotay, you’ve got eyes, haven’t you? Just like the rest of the male population! Do I need to spell it out to you? She’s glamorous, she’s beautiful, she’s intelligent, she’s intriguing and she’s about half my age!" Her eyes were sparkling dangerously. 

"You’re all those things and more. She hasn’t an ounce of your personality, your vitality, your passion….And, Kathryn, I do think you’re beautiful. I always have." She shook her head, dismissively. Gently, he added, "You’re still beautiful." 

Kathryn made no response to this, and she began walking purposefully again towards Sick Bay. Chakotay followed, as he continued, "As to the age thing, I’m a couple of years older than you, so to think of me going after Seven for her youth…well, frankly it’s pathetic." 

"It was pathetic, Chakotay." 

"Then why? There has to be a reason." 

"You were as flattered as the next man, when she showed an interest." 

"What do you mean?" 

"Drop it, Chakotay." 

"You said the _next man_. Is she playing around?" 

"I said drop it. You’re not entitled to know this stuff. You’ll be the only one to remember what happened here, and, believe me Chakotay, the knowledge will be a burden." 

The argument was brought to a close by their arrival at Sick Bay. 

* * *

  


Over the next hour or so, they trailed the ship, wearing bandoliers over their uniforms. They were armed with cartridges of the serum, and were systematically injecting the gel-packs throughout the ship, recording their progress with a checklist on a padd. For a while they worked in silence, but kept together, because of the difficulty in maintaining communications otherwise. 

However, Kathryn went onto the Bridge alone. Chakotay knew that there were no hostiles there, at least not for her, but his reappearance would have caused a lot of problems. 

When she reappeared from the turbo-lift, she was looking thoughtful. 

"Any problems?" he asked, as they set off again. 

"No." Then she smiled. "Cavit was gloating about capturing you. Little does he know you’ve escaped!" 

"Is he fussing about the lack of communications with the rest of the ship?" 

"No. I’ve managed to put their minds at rest on that front. You’ve only been gone a couple of minutes to them. Time isn’t passing at the same rate across the whole of the ship." 

"Did anyone comment on the un-captainlike hairdo?" 

"There were a few raised eyebrows, but they were too respectful to say anything. Chakotay, you’ve no idea how tempting it was to warn Cavit and Stadi about the Badlands. Even though I know they won’t remember this when we realign the temporal distortions, it’s human instinct to want to help people and try to prevent tragedies. Just to know the future is a burden in itself. To act on it is even more so. That’s why we have such strict rules. They’re to protect us, to relieve us of the decision making. You’ve heard of the butterfly effect? One small change can have far-reaching consequences. Imagine being aware that one small thing you changed had catastrophic results! Chakotay, you’ve had a glimpse of the future, and whether you like it or not, it will change the way you react to people. It will change the way you respond to things they say. You’ll not be able to help acting differently. And even if you felt compelled to try to repeat history exactly, you won’t be able to second guess every decision you made the first time round. Basically, you will have to try to act as if you didn’t have that knowledge." She glanced at his worried features, and softened. "I guess I’m trying to warn you how difficult it will be. The temporal prime directive dictates that you should not try to alter history." 

"I understand. Warning duly noted! But you were never one to stick to the rules in every situation. Your adaptability has made you the outstanding Captain you are." 

"Maybe, but I give you this advice as your Captain and as your friend. Believe me, I have had experience of all this. You will find it difficult, but it will help if you adhere to the rules. They are there to guide us." 

* * *

  


Entering a holodeck, the monochromatic environment immediately impacted them. 

"Damn," said Kathryn. "I hoped never to see this again. Computer, deactivate program!" 

" _Unable to comply. Holodeck controls are off-line,_ " droned the Computer. 

"If we’re careful, we might not be spotted," said Chakotay with more hope than conviction, and led the way through some underground caverns towards Dr. Chaotica’s lair. 

"I think I can see the panel. Give me a hand." 

Together they began to remove the panel, but two of Chaotica’s henchmen were already onto them. They appeared, accompanied by Satan’s robot, brandishing ray guns. They held their hands in the air, and Kathryn moved to block their view of the access panel. 

As Doctor Chaotica stepped into the cavern, Lonzak, one of the henchmen, addressed him, "Thieves, my liege. They were attempting to rob your laboratory!" 

"Fools!" exclaimed Chaotica. "Don’t you recognise the Queen of the Spider People?" Turning to Janeway he laughed demonically. "Arachnia, my bride, I knew you’d return to me one day….so I could watch you die!" 

"Please, my liege. I’ve come to warn you of a fiendish plot." 

"By aliens from the eighth dimension," added Chakotay, backing her up. 

"Eighth?" sneered Chaotica. "Everyone knows there are only five dimensions." 

"Let me prove it to you, my liege. Examine it for yourself. There is a hidden device above that console," she said, nodding in the direction of the access panel. Following the direction of her eyes, the party spied the loose panel. Lonzak was able to remove it, and the green gel-pack glowed eerily in the dark gloom. 

"Arachnia, my Queen. You speak the truth. How could I have doubted your love?" droned Chaotica’s oily tone. 

"That vial my slave is holding contains a neutralising potion. If you inject the device, it will be rendered harmless." 

"Do it!" Chaotica ordered Lonzak, who immediately performed the task. 

"Release us, and we will disarm all the devices in you realm," said Janeway. 

"You do love me!" Chaotica went up to Janeway and lifted her hand. He slavered slimy kisses all the way up her arm. It took her much self-control not to recoil in horror. 

"Very well, my dear. But hurry back. Our wedding night is long overdue," he said as the ray guns were lowered. "Together we will rule the cosmos and grind our enemies to dust." 

"Come, slave," said Janeway, addressing Chakotay, "We have work to do!" She headed for the exit. 

"Yes, your majesty," said Chakotay, giving a mock bow. He started after her, barely stifling a grin. 

"Remember, my love. Hurry back. I can wait no longer to take you to our marriage bed!" Chaotica called after her. 

"Not tonight!" Janeway said, through gritted teeth. The doors closed behind them. "Remind me to send Mr. Paris on a six month mission somewhere _really_ unpleasant, when this is over. The sulphur mines of Vanos Prime, for instance." 

"Or the ice plains of Meritor," he laughed. 

"You thought that was funny, didn’t you?" 

"Oh, it was priceless," he said, enjoying her discomfort. "I always felt incredibly cheated to have missed that particular episode of our journey!" 

"Hrmmf." 

"What wouldn’t I have given, to have seen you in that Arachnia costume!" Janeway glared at him. "Come to think of it, I’d have had a hard time keeping his hands off you, if you’d still had that cocktail dress on!" The glare deepened. "Come now, Kathryn. Don’t take it so seriously. There’s no harm done. Can’t you be gallant, and see the funny side of it?" he asked, breaking into a goofy smile. Their eyes locked for a few moments, until she broke and started laughing too. 

The mood evaporated when he placed his hand on her arm. She turned away from him, saying, "On with the show!" 

* * *

  


They walked to Engineering, aware that this was going to be a challenge. From the upper level they studied the movements of the Kazon for a short time. 

"I could go in and try to sweet-talk my way around Seska, but I’ve already incurred her wrath, so I recommend going for reinforcements. You shouldn’t go in there." 

"I’ve a better idea. We modify some limpet grenades to pass through the temporal barriers and knock them all out. Then you go in with an oxygen mask, do your stuff and secure the area." 

"Brilliant. So obvious! Why didn’t I think of that?" 

"It’s why I’m the Admiral and you’re the college lecturer." 

"Oh, yeah?" 

"I’m paid to think, you’re paid to talk about what other people think." 

"Excuse me!" he said in disgust. 

"See," she grinned, "I knew that would get you spitting." 

"I’ll have you know that influencing young minds is one of the most important jobs in the cosmos!" 

"Did I say otherwise?" she laughed. 

"College lecturer, eh?" 

"Starfleet Academy." 

"Now who’s breaking the temporal prime directive?" 

"Oh, I hardly think you’re going to change history with that particular nugget of information." 

It did not take them long to adapt the grenades, and within seconds of throwing them into the lower level, Seska and her friends were sprawled on the floor. Chakotay entered, and trussed them all up securely. They should remain unconscious for hours, but he was not taking any chances. He was going to have to return to initiate the chroniton pulse and finish the job later. He injected the gel-packs and returned to Kathryn, who was lazing on a chair with her feet up on a console. 

He grinned at the spectacle. "Spirits, old woman. Too much for you, is it? Just lie around like Lady Muck and let me do all the work, why don’t you?" 

"Conserving my brain power." 

"The old Kathryn Janeway would never have been caught dead slouching like that. Most un-captainlike." 

"Yes, well, I’m more relaxed these days. I’m not Captain of this ship any more. And if anyone sees me, they won’t even remember it." 

"I will." 

"You don’t count." 

"I don’t count?" he asked in mock outrage. 

"Well, you know I’m not the same woman I was. No doubt the old Kathryn is just as prissy as ever. You always had an uphill struggle to get me to relax." 

"Yes. Sounds familiar," he smiled, as she stood up. 

"I take it my simple plan worked, then?" 

"Like a dream. We could have wasted hours assembling an assault team from across the ship." 

"Still, it could have been interesting. We could have gone in guns blazing. Come to think of it, we could have gone in just about everywhere guns blazing. Mown everybody down in a hail of phaser fire! We could have wreaked our vengeance on a few aliens, and taken out our frustrations on a few slovenly crewmembers. And it wouldn’t have made the slightest difference. They’d all be restored to normal when we eliminated the temporal distortions." 

"Gone all Bonnie and Clyde?" 

"Exactly. It could have been cathartic." 

"You’re not serious?" 

The corner of her mouth twitched. He laughed. Then she laughed. "I had you going there for a bit, didn’t I? I can still surprise you!" 

"That you can," he responded happily. And the day you cease to surprise me, Kathryn Janeway, he thought to himself, will be the day I die. 

* * *

  


They returned to the Mess Hall, where they were immediately accosted by people asking about the visiting dignitaries. 

"What’s with the uniforms?" 

"They wanted us to wear our authentic clothes," said Janeway. "Chakotay, would you go and check the gel-packs, and ensure that they are prepared for the environmental adjustments." 

"Are they coming in here?" asked an alarmed voice. 

As Chakotay ducked behind the counter, he heard Kathryn placating the group around her. He knelt down and dealt with the gel-packs, but jumped as he felt a firm hand grabbing his shoulder. Turning and rising, he saw the angry face of the blond man he had seen earlier. 

"I thought I warned you to stay away from my wife," he growled at Chakotay. 

"This is business. Old business." 

"What business could you possibly have with her any more?" 

"These dignitaries insisted…" Chakotay began desperately ad-libbing. 

"Never mind the excuses. If I catch you anywhere near her again, I won’t answer for the consequences. I know all about your little meeting last week. Kathryn’s very open with me. She told me everything. You really upset her, and it’s not to happen again. Ever! It’s too bad your lovely wife’s playing the field. It doesn’t give you the right to go sniffing around anybody else’s wife." 

Chakotay swallowed. He badly wanted to argue back, but he knew Kathryn would not forgive him for making a scene. "No, it doesn’t," he concurred. 

"Face it, you’ve lost her! I think you’re a sad jealous old man. You want what we’ve got. Soon we’ll be a family. A normal happy family! And nobody is going to spoil it. Do you hear me?" 

"Yes." 

"Good," said the man, releasing his grip. "You made your bed. You lie on it!" 

"Max?" called Kathryn’s plaintive voice, as she approached this little scenario. 

"Yes, my love." 

"Let it go." Max nodded. "Chakotay and I have this problem to sort out, then I’ll be back with you directly, I promise." 

"Are you all right?" he asked tenderly. 

"I’m fine." She smiled reassuringly, and kissed him as they left. 

"Sorry about that," she said to Chakotay as they exited the Mess Hall. 

"Spirits, time travel is disturbing." 

"Yes. Don’t I know it! What’s left?" she asked consulting the padd with a checklist. 

"A couple of corridors, and the transporter room. Then we’re done." 

Her eyes met his, as if she was sorry that this time of togetherness was almost over. 

"Okay," she said sadly. 

* * *

  


In the transporter room, they found B’Elanna and a number of Maquis plotting together to take over Voyager. B’Elanna was horrified to see Chakotay in Starfleet uniform, and accused him of conspiring with Janeway. But they had a long standing friendship by this point in time, so it did not take much for him to persuade her to stand aside and allow him to inject the gel-pack. 

As they left, Kathryn said, "It brings it home…what an eventful and perilous journey we had! If I’d known then, what I know now…" 

"In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself astray in a dark wood where the straight road had been lost." 

"Dante. I leant you my book." 

"It was a very precious book, if I remember." 

"It was." 

"And we were very special friends. Almost more." 

"We were." 

"We still are. I’d like to think we still will be…" 

"Things change." 

"Only if we let them." He looked longingly into her eyes. "Kathryn, I want to ask you…was there ever a window of opportunity for us?" In her eyes, he thought he read the answer he wanted. Her words dispelled the imagery. 

"Chakotay, I can’t answer that." 

"Well, tell me this then. Are you happy?" 

"I’m happy enough." 

"Do you love your husband?" 

"Yes," she said, a flicker of sadness crossing her face. They knew each other too well. She knew he had detected it. "Yes," she added, "but he’s not you." 

"Am I happy? Are Seven and I happy?" 

"This is too much. Don’t push it." 

"Kathryn, I can march straight back up to the Mess Hall and prise the truth out of Tom or Tuvok, even Max." 

"Tuvok will never divulge anything." 

"No, but Tom will willingly spill the beans." She bit her lip uncertainly for some time. 

"I came to see you, didn’t I? A week ago. Something that upset both you and Seven. What was it about?" 

Silence. 

"Kathryn!" he said firmly, gripping her arms. She shook him off. 

Silence. 

"Right!" he continued, striding defiantly down the corridor, "I’m off to speak to Tom…" 

"Wait!" He stopped and turned. 

"Well, then?" 

"I don’t believe you're happy," she said softly. 

"I thought not. Tell me about our meeting." 

Reluctantly, Kathryn told the tale. "You came to tell me that you and Seven have made a terrible mistake. That you’re about to split up. She’s enthralled by everything the world has to offer, and naturally that includes a significant number of interested young men. You told me that you’ve never stopped loving me, that you bitterly regret losing me, and that you realise now that I was the only one you ever really wanted to be with. You asked me to leave Max for you." 

"And what did you say?" 

She didn’t respond.

"And what did you say?" he asked more forcefully. 

"I told you to go to hell." Chakotay thought that hell was very probably where he’d feel he was in the circumstances. "You were too late. I’m a married woman. I have Max and the baby to consider. I have every intention of being faithful to my husband." 

"This is terrible." 

"You can’t do anything, Chakotay. Promise me you won’t try to change things. I insist you do nothing to harm my baby. In fact, make that an order!" He looked at her mournfully. "Promise me you’ll leave things be!" 

After a long pause, he responded in the only way he could. "I promise," he said softly. What else could he say?

"Thank you." 

In silence, they completed the task of injecting the gel-packs, talking only to the various crewmembers they encountered on the way. 

"That’s it. That’s the last," said Chakotay, as they snapped the cover on the last gel-pack. "All we need now is for you to return to the Mess Hall, and I’ll go down to Engineering and initiate the warp pulse." 

"Have you got the correct calibrations?" 

"Yes. I only have a few seconds to re-route main power to the deflector dish and adjust the polarity frequency. If I fail…" 

"We’ll have to do this all over again. Maybe with a different set of time zones." 

"It could get rather repetitive. Come on, I’ll walk you to the Mess Hall." 

"If you don’t mind, I want to go and put my dress back on. Call me paranoid, but I have a dread that this uniform might disappear when you perform your miracle." 

"Now, that would set the party alight." She nodded. "Your quarters, then?" he said, leading the way. They walked there in thoughtful silence, and Kathryn went into her bedroom and changed back into her party clothes. He waited for her in her lounge, pacing the floor as his thoughts retraced their conversations. 

As she finished adjusting her jewellery, she came to the doorway and studied his handsome features. He was weighed down with sadness, and she could see how devastated he was by the future that had been revealed to him. 

He looked past her and remarked on the abandoned uniform, just scattered on the bedroom floor. 

"A bit untidy, isn’t it, Kathryn? Aren’t you going to hang it up?" he said, trying to smile. 

"Why bother? In a few minutes, I’ll never have had it on in the first place." 

They stared at each other, eyes beginning to twinkle in amusement. But then the mood changed again. They both tried to fight it, but failed utterly to dissipate the strong attraction both were feeling, or the sense of sadness that the coming separation would bring. 

"Sorry," he said softly. 

"What for?" 

"For making a mess of the next two years." 

"You’re apologising for something you haven’t done yet?" 

"Yes. I’m sorry for giving up on us… for losing hope…for, well, everything." 

"Some of it was my fault. I kept us apart. You couldn’t wait for ever. I knew that. We could have been forty more years getting home." 

"If I’d known it would be only another few months…" 

"Weeks even. Well, you do know now. Chakotay, that knowledge brings a heavy responsibility. I have to trust you to bear that responsibility ethically and professionally. The first thing you should do when this is over, is to reacquaint yourself with the temporal prime directive and all the accompanying advice." 

"I’ll do that..... Kathryn, just trust me. I love you," he said, opening his arms in invitation. 

"I was afraid of that," she replied, falling into his friendly embrace. His hands rubbed her arms and back affectionately, as they both drank in the joy of holding each other. His lips came dangerously close to kissing her temple, and it took him all his strength to restrain himself. 

The moment was suddenly over. They broke apart, and reluctantly directed their steps towards the door, and eventually to the Mess Hall and a parting of the ways. 

As they walked, Kathryn continued, "Remember, you have a responsibility not to alter history. There is just one thing you could do though." 

"What’s that?" 

She told him. 

* * *

  


2379

  


Everything had gone to plan. The chroniton pulse had realigned the ship. The adjustments to the deflector dish and polarity had done their job. And everything was all right again in the Voyager universe. At least for the moment. He’d soon been in her quarters, laughing with her over a bottle of Antarian cider, and skillfully deflecting her attempts to wheedle a fuller explanation out of him. Now, however, he was much more aware of how precious every moment with her was. 

Kathryn was right, he thought. Mere knowledge of the future alters the future. You do react differently to situations, just from the possession of that knowledge. When Seven came to him a few weeks later asking for a date, he knocked her back. How could he do otherwise? Was he expected to go through all that again? To date her, marry her and then be thoroughly miserable? No, it wasn’t humanly possible. No-one could have expected it of him. It wouldn’t have been fair to Seven either. 

Over the next few weeks, he had deepened his friendship with Kathryn. He realised that he had perhaps begun to pull away recently, had withdrawn from her a little. It had been a reaction to his despair of ever getting truly intimate with her. But knowing that they would get home soon put an entirely different complexion on it. He could afford to get closer. And he did. 

Kathryn grew correspondingly more happy and vivacious. The spark of her former self came through, witnessed by many around her. It was the same relaxed playful spark he had glimpsed in her future self too, something that had been missing lately. It delighted him to see the change. It was her natural response to his renewed interest. She, however, remained blissfully ignorant of his temporal intelligence. It worried him briefly that knowing they would get home would actually alter the fact of their getting home, but that hadn’t come to pass. They’d arrived home amid a flurry of temporal infringements, committed by a future, now non-existent, Kathryn Janeway. If Kathryn learned anything during that adventure, she was as tight-lipped about it as he was about his. And it had occurred literally six days after Seven had asked him for that date. How close a call was that? 

Of course, by behaving like this he had altered history, and thus had broken his promise to Kathryn. He had some qualms about that. But the result was that he had now honoured an older promise to her. He was beside her when they arrived back home. As they had entered the Borg transwarp conduit, he had reached out and squeezed her hand briefly, reassuring her of his care and support. He had hugged her with the rest of them when the plan had succeeded. And she hadn’t held back from him. The mere fact of his not dating Seven had left them free and relaxed with each other. Then she’d ordered him to the helm, and disappeared into the Ready Room. 

Up to this point he hadn’t made any conscious decisions to alter the future, other than the one special thing Kathryn had asked of him. He’d merely reacted to the situations he had found himself in. But he had spent the next few hours eyeing the Ready Room door, fully aware of the gravity of what he was now contemplating. This would be actively changing history. But he could no more stop himself from doing it than he could stop himself from breathing. This moment, this precious moment in time was his window of opportunity, albeit a more open one than his counterpart had had, and he couldn’t let it pass. He was going to walk right into it and seize it. There was no way he was going to let it close on him. 

When he was relieved of his post, he barged straight into her Ready Room without waiting for her to admit him. He strode in with the confidence of a man who has made a decision, and is fully aware of what the response will be. 

He’d seen that she was talking to a Starfleet Admiral…he recognised Tom’s father…and apologised for interrupting. 

"If you don’t mind, Admiral Paris, I just need two minutes of this good lady’s time. I’ve an important question to ask her." 

The Admiral had looked slightly perturbed, as Chakotay had cut the link. Kathryn had looked at him open-mouthed and speechless for a moment. 

In fact it had only taken thirty seconds to ask the question, and get the desired answer. The other ninety seconds had been filled with some rather interesting osculatory exploration. Three weeks later, they were married. 

And now, here they were, back in the Mess Hall, at the self same cocktail party to celebrate the opening of Voyager as a museum. It had been a bizarre week. First, the invitation had come, which had given him more than a little anxiety. He supposed that was the price you paid for altering the future. He half expected his younger self to come bursting onto the scene to cause mayhem. He’d wouldn’t relax until the party was over. 

Then, Kathryn had come back from a shopping trip, with the exact same evening dress he’d seen her wearing before. He’d nearly had a fit when he'd seen it. 

But tonight the worst and most unsettling thing had happened. He’d been sent by Kathryn to refill their champagne glasses, and he’d been side-tracked into a long conversation with the holographic Neelix and a couple of other people. When he turned back towards his wife, he did a double-take. There she was being introduced to Ambassador Max Williamson, the man she would have married, if he hadn’t interfered. He nearly dropped the champagne glasses. 

Chakotay froze as this little scenario played out. Gradually, his thumping heart quieted. There was not a flicker of recognition in Kathryn's face. After a few minutes, she turned to look for him, wondering why he was taking so long to bring back the drinks. Their eyes met and she smiled at him. It was a joyful relaxed smile. The smile of a happy contented woman. It mirrored his own. 

Yes, it was a terrible burden to know the future. It was like playing God with people's lives. He had agonised about denying existence to her baby, and thereby to that baby’s descendants. He understood that her plea not to change history had been first and foremost on her baby’s behalf. However, he had come to accept that, just by choosing who to sleep with, you open up the possibility of whole dynasties of future people and cause whole dynasties of others to be erased from the pages of history. The only difference is that you are normally unaware of it. You have no inkling of who those potential people might be. And the clinching argument, the one that had finally enabled him to rationalise his actions to himself, was that he figured that if Max could get her pregnant, then he could. 

Kathryn could never know all this. He would never tell her, just as she would never tell him some of the temporal things she had learned. 

Why should he waste another second wondering whether he had been right to act as he had? After tonight, he would have no further knowledge of the future. It was an open book, waiting to be written. Looking around, he knew everything had turned out much better. He and Kathryn were incredibly happy. Tuvok was fit and well, and had T’Pel with him just as before. Seven was looking very glamorous. She was adjusting well to Alpha Quadrant life, and had the latest in a long string of boyfriends in tow. B’Elanna was pregnant with her second child. Sam Wildman had already produced another. There had been a significant number of new members added to the Voyager family since their return. No wonder that Kathryn joked that they had returned from the Delta Quadrant just to repopulate the earth. He guessed that he and Kathryn weren’t the only ones who had put their lives on hold for the duration of their long intrepid journey. 

And what of that special request Kathryn had made that fateful day? Across the room he smiled at the result of what she had asked him. There was Joe Carey with his wife and two sons, chatting to Marla Gilmore. It was a poignant, but ultimately heart-warming sight. It had been an simple thing to make Joe wear body armour on the particular away mission Kathryn had warned him about. It had saved his life. 

No, Kathryn Janeway was not above fiddling with timelines, if she thought the result would be happier for all concerned. 

Smiling, he walked up to his wife and handed her the glass. He deposited a butterfly kiss on the back of her neck, marvelling at how she tolerated his public show of affection. This had come as a complete surprise to him. It was a far cry from the proper Starfleet Captain. 

"Whatever have you been doing?" she asked. 

"Just admiring my beautiful wife from afar," he responded happily. He snaked an arm across her back, curling the hand around to the front and delicately spreading his fingers across her belly. Was it his imagination? Could he really feel the bump already? 

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: I realise that there are probably quite a lot of anomalies in this (temporal or otherwise), but then there were in the original episode, weren't there? Did anybody ever wonder how their clothes made it through the barriers, when everything else disappeared? And did anyone else think it ridiculous that Chakotay got himself into difficulties with Seska twice? I had a little dig about that, if you noticed. If there are minor blunders, please forgive me. I don't have a beta reader. Hope you enjoyed my version of a great episode (if you exclude the depressing reference to the barriers never crossed!)


End file.
